‘Tourist tax’ could pay for youth groups
PETITION TO START CHARGING LEVY FOR LONDON VISITS TO FUND KEY SERVICES AS WELL AS AMENITIES
WITH cash-strapped councils preparing to cut services around London as they work through their budgets this February, one council-hopeful says it’s time tourists were tapped for cash to help.
Labour’s Patrick Lilley, who ran for Westminster’s West End ward in the last council elections and now hopes to stand for GLA in his home constituency, West Central, has started a petition arguing a tourist levy for central London councils could help them raise money for key services.
The council’s Labour opposition has touted research showing a tourist tax could net £25 million a year for Westminster alone, based on a flat rate of £1.60 per room.
It has said that could be spent on the everyday amenities tourists and locals alike enjoy like parks, public toilets and street lighting.
“Barcelona does it, Brussels does it, Berlin does it. Historically, lots of places already do it,” Mr Lilley said.
The West End Labour party secretary said he would like the idea to go a step further and be used to pay for local council services vulnerable to cuts, like youth services.
Mr Lilley said he believed many Londoners would support the idea.
“In my own life I’m aware of how dangerous the streets can be and we need to fund youth services, we need to fund apprenticeships, we need better community safety and these are all responsibilities of local councils – and they simply don’t have the money,” he said.
“The money generated by tourism is jobs in hotels, creating jobs in restaurants and theatre - which are fantastic, but that money does largely go to central government and only a tiny percentage of business rates are returned to the local authorities. So for every pound of tax raised by a local authority only 9p returns to the area.”
Mr Lilley pointed to examples in Paris, Rome and Venice, where more can be charged in relation to to the hotel’s star rating.
He said short term lets like Airbnb could be included, and given a notional three-star rating.
The bed providers could collect the tax through their nightly charges and pay it monthly to the local authority, his petition suggests.
Many UK tourism hotspots have been mulling the possibility of asking visitors to pay a levy, including in Edinburgh, Bath, and Cornwall .
The Conservative-run Westminster City Council has in the past supported the idea.
However the council’s leadership said such an idea would need to be explored post-Brexit , and discussed with other central London boroughs
Deputy Leader Cllr David Harvey said: “London is a world-class city to visit, attracting millions of people a year. We think it’s reasonable to ask those visitors to fund the services they have a direct impact upon, such as street cleaning and traffic management.”
“Whilst we’ve been considering such a levy in recent years , with uncertainty over Brexit, we understand that now is not the best time to implement a new tax.
We want this idea to be on the table and part of a discussion about how we create a fair playing field, which balances the needs of businesses, residents and visitors across London.”